Introduction
-
Charlotte Lydia Riley
Abstract
This introduction sets out some of the key critical questions that will be explored in this book, and offers a framing for the broader debate, which focuses on the balancing of free speech rights and the ways in which free speech rights are increasingly invoked to try to defend speech or behaviour that should be critiqued or challenged. The introduction first examines the legal and constitutional right to ‘free speech’, as defended in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the defence of which is critical to democracy and free political expression around the world. It then explores the ways in which ‘freedom of speech’ has often taken on a blurrier, more nebulous meaning, which is as much to do with asserting freedom from criticism as it is with defending the right to freedom from censorship by governments. It then introduces some of the key spaces and concepts around which freedom of speech arguments have coalesced – notably ‘safe spaces’ and ‘no-platforming’ vs. ideas about ‘hate speech’ and ‘political correctness’. The introduction finishes with a more personal reflection on the questions around free speech: who gets to make these claims, whose rights are defended by institutions, and what sort of speech is tolerated within the bounds of free speech and what is seen as off limits.
Abstract
This introduction sets out some of the key critical questions that will be explored in this book, and offers a framing for the broader debate, which focuses on the balancing of free speech rights and the ways in which free speech rights are increasingly invoked to try to defend speech or behaviour that should be critiqued or challenged. The introduction first examines the legal and constitutional right to ‘free speech’, as defended in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the defence of which is critical to democracy and free political expression around the world. It then explores the ways in which ‘freedom of speech’ has often taken on a blurrier, more nebulous meaning, which is as much to do with asserting freedom from criticism as it is with defending the right to freedom from censorship by governments. It then introduces some of the key spaces and concepts around which freedom of speech arguments have coalesced – notably ‘safe spaces’ and ‘no-platforming’ vs. ideas about ‘hate speech’ and ‘political correctness’. The introduction finishes with a more personal reflection on the questions around free speech: who gets to make these claims, whose rights are defended by institutions, and what sort of speech is tolerated within the bounds of free speech and what is seen as off limits.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Protecting freedom of speech
- 1 Protecting the freedom of speech 23
- 2 Open-air free speech 30
- 3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom 43
- 4 In a diverse society, is freedom of speech realisable? 53
- 5 Training readers as censors in Nazi Germany 63
- 6 Is boycotting for or against free speech? 74
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Free speech as a weapon
- 7 When is free speech not about freedom? 87
- 8 Drinking the hemlock 95
- 9 Secularism, Islamophobia and free speech in France 103
- 10 The logic of nonsense 115
- 11 Weaponised Swissness 131
- 12 Free speech and the British press 143
-
Free speech on campus
- 13 Free speech and preventing radicalisation in higher education 157
- 14 Anatomy of a ‘trigger warning’ scandal 168
- 15 Grad school as conversion therapy 180
- 16 Teaching ‘freedom of speech’ freely 192
- 17 The politicisation of campus free speech in Portugal 200
- 18 Do we need safe spaces? 211
-
The internet: the Wild West of free speech
- 19 A postmodern neo-Marxist’s guide to free speech 227
- 20 Free speech and online masculinity movements 239
- 21 Choose your fighter 251
- 22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’ 261
- Index 271
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Protecting freedom of speech
- 1 Protecting the freedom of speech 23
- 2 Open-air free speech 30
- 3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom 43
- 4 In a diverse society, is freedom of speech realisable? 53
- 5 Training readers as censors in Nazi Germany 63
- 6 Is boycotting for or against free speech? 74
-
Free speech as a weapon
- 7 When is free speech not about freedom? 87
- 8 Drinking the hemlock 95
- 9 Secularism, Islamophobia and free speech in France 103
- 10 The logic of nonsense 115
- 11 Weaponised Swissness 131
- 12 Free speech and the British press 143
-
Free speech on campus
- 13 Free speech and preventing radicalisation in higher education 157
- 14 Anatomy of a ‘trigger warning’ scandal 168
- 15 Grad school as conversion therapy 180
- 16 Teaching ‘freedom of speech’ freely 192
- 17 The politicisation of campus free speech in Portugal 200
- 18 Do we need safe spaces? 211
-
The internet: the Wild West of free speech
- 19 A postmodern neo-Marxist’s guide to free speech 227
- 20 Free speech and online masculinity movements 239
- 21 Choose your fighter 251
- 22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’ 261
- Index 271
